Love Like Woe
by Roselna
Summary: Songfic, fluff. Written late at night, after trying and failing to make a video to the song. Pouncival is dared to tell Etcetera how he feels about her.


Pouncival smiled as he turned a backflip off the tire. A couple of the other toms laughed as he almost lost his balance. "I'm all good!" he shouted when he steadied himself, causing the others to laugh harder. The tom rolled his eyes, used to this treatment. "Like you three could do much better," he shot at them.

"I'll take that bet," Tumblebrutus said, dashing up on the tire, look of amused excitement on his face. True to his word, the patched tom flipped off the tire and landed perfectly, turning around and grinning broadly. Pouncival rolled his eyes again, murmuring curses under his breath. "Well, Pounce? Got any other bets?" Tumblebrutus said, slinging his arm around his brother's shoulders and smirking at him.

"I swear," the striped-and-patched tom said, shrugging his older-by-a-few-minutes-brother's arm off. "You're hanging around with Mungojerrie too much." This earned laughs from Mistoffelees and Plato. Tumble just smirked a little more.

"Well, what do you suggest I do?" Tumblebrutus challenged.

"Oh, I don't know...go tell Jemmy you like her."

The color drained out of the older-by-a-few-minutes-tom's face, much to the delight of the other three, who hooted with laughter. "Ya gotta now, Tumble," Mistoffelees said through his laughter.

"I second that notion," Plato choked out.

The patched tom grew defensive. "Fine then," he said, twisting around to look at the TSE 1, where a gaggle of queens was sitting. "Oi! Jem!" he shouted, waving a hand in the air to further attract the rust-black queen's attention. She looked up from her three friends, who also turned to see what he was calling about. "I like you! Go to the ball with me?" Tumblebrutus continued. The petite queen's face reddened, but she smiled and nodded, before immediately ducking into conversation with Victoria, Electra, and Etcetera. Tumblebrutus turned back to his three friends. "Happy?" he asked, smirking at their stupefied expressions.

Mistoffelees was the first to come out of the initial shock of the patched tom's boldness. He shrugged. "I guess so," the tuxedoed tom said.

Tumblebrutus then rounded on his younger-by-a-few-minutes-brother, who still had his mouth hanging open. "Your turn, Pounce," he said.

The smaller tom shook himself. "Wait...what?"

"Your turn," Tumblebrutus repeated. "You get to go tell _Etcetera _that you like her."

Pouncival's face, unlike his paling sibling's, turned beet red. Plato looked over at him, eyebrow cocked in amusment. "But I already tried," Pouncival protested. "She just laughed it off, then told me not to be silly."

A some-what evil grin broke over his older brother's face. "Well then," Tumblebrutus said, leaning to Plato and Mistoffelees and whispering something that the striped-and-patched tom couldn't hear. Grins broke over both of their faces. "You'll just have to tell her with a bigger impact," the patched tom continued, now at a level that Pouncival could hear.

"Whadda ya mean?" he asked, as Plato brushed past him and to the old piano that sat just beyond the oven, opening the lid that covered the ivory keys. When the rust and white tom started playing familiar keys, Pouncival's face drained of color. "Oh, Cat no," he said.

"Oh, Cat yes!" Tumblebrutus exclaimed happily before he and a grinning Mistoffelees broke into,

_"Whoa oh oh oh oh,  
Whoa oh oh oh oh,"_

Then, from his spot at the piano, Plato sang out,

"_I kinda feel like it don't make  
like-like-like it don't make  
Kinda feel like it don't make se-e-ense."_

His taking of that role forced Pouncival to sing,

"_I'm thinking, baby, you and I are, un-deniable  
But I'm finding out now love's, un-reliable  
I'm giving all I got to make you stay,  
Or am I just a roadblock in your way?"_

At this point, all four of the queens that were atop the old car hood were looking over at them with interest. Electra, Victoria, and Jemima all glanced at Etcetera, who was gazing at Pouncival unblinkingly. They had, undoubtedly, heard that he had told her he liked her.

_"'Cause you're a pretty little windstorm, on the boul-e-vard,  
Something like a Sunset_,"

An "oh" was inserted from Mistoffelees and Tumblebrutus, both whom were grinning broadly at their evilness, earning a glare from Pouncival as he continued,

_"You're a shooting star  
And I might drive myself insane  
If those lips aren't speakin' my name_

_'Cause I got some intuition,  
__Or maybe I'm superstitious  
But I think you're a pretty little pill  
That I'm swallowing down  
To counter this addiction  
You've got me on a mission  
Tell me darlin' how could I get a break somehow-  
Can I say no?"_

Finally starting to get into the song, Pouncival danced a little bit, moving his way towards the group of queens. When he came close to Etcetera, she bashfully turned her face away, hiding the pretty blue eyes that Pouncival found entrancing. Put off, he continued, turning slightly away from her.

_"She's got a love like woe."_

_"Whoa oh oh oh oh," _

Tumblebrutus and Mistoffelees added. Plato joined in too, still at the piano.

_"Girl's gotta love like woe."_

_"Whoa oh oh oh oh."_

_"I kinda feel like it don't make sense  
__'Cause you're bringin' me in  
And now you're kickin' me out again  
Love so strong, then you moved on,  
It's like I'm hung up in suspense  
'Cause you're bringin' me in,  
And now you're kickin' me out again."_

Etcetera, now overcome with the fact that Pouncival was singing to her, slipped down off the TSE 1 and ran out of the clearing. Pouncival spun slowly in frustration, paws coming up, and then, when he made it to face where she had run off, brought them down with,

_"It's like a hurricane, speed train, she's a moving car  
Catch her in the fast lane, oh, I gotta know_  
_Can I keep up with her pace?_  
_Kick into gear when I see that face."_

A grin split over Pouncival's face as he sang the last line of the verse, then he ran after the queen of his affection. As he started to catch glimpses of her, no longer caring if he was with the piano or not, the striped-and-patched tom sang out,

"_You can take up all my time cause you're the only one_  
_That can make a storm cloud break_  
_Pulling out the sun_  
_And I cant get caught in the rain_  
_Can I get your lips to speak my name?_

_Cause I got some intuition,  
or maybe I'm superstitious  
But I think you're a pretty sweet pill  
that I'm swallowing down  
To counter this addiction  
you've got me on a mission  
Tell me darling, can I get a break somehow?  
Could I say no?"_

Pouncival saw Etcetera's back clearly now, and he continued to sing out, now more loudly so that she was sure to hear him.

"_She's got a love like woe,__  
__Girl's got a love like woe,__  
__I kinda feel like it dont make sense_  
_Because you're bringing me in_  
_and now you're kicking me out again_  
_Loved so strong, then you moved on_  
_Now I'm hung up in suspense,_  
_Because you're bringing me in_  
_And then you're kicking me out again."_

Now no longer running, Etcetera turned around to face Pouncival. The tom slid on his knees up to her, grabbing her paw in his as he now kneeled in front of her. Looking the lovely Ectetera in the eyes, Pouncival sang,

_"Cause we only have one life_  
_The timing and the moment,_  
_All seem so right_  
_So would you say you're mine?"_

_"We'll be just fine,"_

Etcetera sang softly, her blue eyes boring into Pouncival's brown ones.

_"Would you say you're mine?"_

_"We'll be just fine!"_

Pouncival stood up and grinned at Etcetera, who smiled shyly back. From behind them, Tumblebrutus and Mistoffelees caught up. Glancing at each other, the two picked up the song.

_"She's got a love like woe,_  
_whoa oh oh oh,_  
_Girl's got a love like woe,_  
_whoa oh oh oh_._"_

Pouncival grabbed his part back, picking up with,

_"I kinda feel like it dont make sense_  
_Because you're bringing me in_  
_and now you're kicking me out again_  
_Loved so strong, then you moved on_  
_Now I'm hung up in suspense,_  
_Because you're bringing me in_  
_And then you're kicking me out again."_

Pouncival and Etcetera stared at each other. "So," the patched-and-striped tom said finally, breathless from his singing. "Would you go to the ball with me, Cettie?"

The queen, who's face appeared semi-confused, with her lips half open, simply nodded, the half-open mouth turning up into a slightly questioning smile.

"Good then. It's a date," Pouncival said with a flourish, smiling at her and then pressing his lips to her forehead. Then he turned and started walking back to the clearing, where Plato was bound to be waiting after being left alone with the piano. Tumblebrutus and Mistoffelees flocked after him. The three toms made their way back to their original place that they were talking.

"That was a good," Tumble observed, musing his younger-by-a-few-minutes-brother's headfur. Pouncival ducked away from him, swatting at his brother's paw.

"Yeah. But not as good as it's gonna be to see Misto tell Lecs that he likes her," Pouncival said, grinning evilly at the now-even-whiter face of Mistoffelees.

* * *

**A/N:**

You know, I'm starting to notice that the closer I write stuff to midnight, the different my writing style is. I'm trying to decide if this style is good or not...ah, well. This was purely fluff, mainly 'cause I tried to make a video to this song, failed miserably, and then thought, "Oh. This would be easier to write a story to." Yep. Sorry for the rather shortness, by the way.

Song- Love Like Woe (c) The Ready Set (http:/ www (dot) youtube (dot) com/watch?v=oh6Oz-L156c&ob=av3e)  
Cats (c) RUG, TSE, ALW


End file.
